Still going!

February 01, 2018

I bought a Garrett MH CX3 new over twenty years ago, maybe closer to 25
years now! Still works as advertised, "Ready - Motion Mode - Coins" voice
greets me every time I turn it on. LOL Have found some really good finds,
again I use Coin mode to help with trash, and watch the LED readout when it
beeps. If steady and repeatable - usually a good target. Skippy half tones
with LEDs jumping around - trash. Pretty simple.

Scenario of my
best finds with CX3 - On a peninsula into a hand dug (by slaves) lake at
the bottom of a hill where a mansion was that entertained heads of state,
and rich folk of all sorts (Livingstons, Rockefellers etc). Was finding
shotgun shell after shotgun shell (seemed like 100s). Round, coined sized
etc was tricking the CX3. Dropped one on the bank, let it chirp over it,
and hit the Discriminate button, and the chirp was gone! LED's would flash
but no more digging the shotgun shells! Went along another 50 yards or so
and then heard the annoying chirp followed by a high pitch weeeep sound.
LED's said a dime at 12 inches (yeah right, I'm thinking). About 6 inches
in the black muck was a shotgun shell head. Yep.. Swung over the hole and
now nothing but the high tone and "Dime" designation! Dug down another
couple inches and found a silver dime sized coin, dated 1776, Hispania! One
side worn smooth from I'm guessing the ice rubbing on it for hundreds of
years. Other side barely readable, but clearly a piece of history!

At another site, a cornfield in middle of nowhere, a friend said
he found coins or buttons just laying on the ground after plowing the
field. We hit it hard with our detectors and found numerous (25+ easy)
English coppers! Most were just worn wafers, but some you could make out
the bust and GEORGE on them. Some of these we down 10 inches or so in the
plowed soil.
Rumor/story has it there was an old fur trader who had a
shack out there and must have buried some $ instead of carrying it from
place to place to trade furs... Still have my CX3 and still use it!

Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter

Overall RatingDurabilityEase of UseWould you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!Terry from
Upstate NY

01

Bad rap, think not!

January 25, 2015

I don't understand why some people are upset when they find "junk". Digging
junk is part of the game. That is where the gold is! Sometimes yes, you
have to hunt an area clean before you can really get deep! I have 3 of the
garrett CX machines. The first space ship plastic model, the Garrett Grand
Master Hunter, the Master Hunter, and the CXIII talking detector.

The first two have VU meters as opposed to the digital readings
on the GMH CX3. (with max power). I have to say the Master Hunter, which is
the lower level unit, has found me more silver coins than probably most any
other detector and I keep it now, after purchasing the other two units,
just because it has found me so much stuff from gold chains, rings, etc. I
have a favorite area I hunt and when I got the 1st unit, the Grand Master
Hunter(they did not call it the CX at this time), It was even more
sensitive and was going about 1-2 inches deeper. Then I got the CXIII and I
have the 12.5 coil and it eats up 12 inches of ground, I have dug quarters
at 14 inches. But if you are finding foil, pennies, clad, pull-tabs, you
are on the right track and eventually a ring will pop out of the ground
that pays for the detector in one find.

So... Hard to try and
beat that! If it's there, you'll find it. In trashy areas, because of the
high sensitivity, you need to clean up a bit of ground with the 4.5 coil.
Yeah, you can consider yourself a conservationist using one of these
detectors, but good things come. It has to be there for you to find it. Bad
targets do cloud good targets, even on much more expensive machines. You
need to get them out of the way. I found listening to the CXIII is
efficient, in that I can pay attention to my surroundings rather than
staring at the ground.

I also think the VU meters are really good
on the older models, to see how the needle jumps around, is the language of
what it's trying to tell you is in the ground. If it jumps around, it's a
wild card, it could be junk, it could be a thin gold ring that's twisted
up. You can also adjust the discrimination on the older models via the 2
knobs (ferrus/non ferrus on the side).. The CX3 is done in the program.
(just to note, there are several models, I think they go, in this order,
the GRAND MASTER HUNTER. Grand Master Hunter CX2, CX2plus, Master Hunter(my
first unit I was telling you about and the lowest priced in the series) the
CXIII, then the CXIII with the Max Power. It's really confusing but I I
think they are overall a good dependable unit worth the money and effort.

Just don't get confused which model you are buying and over pay.
You need a lot of patience finding great stuff, but when you are about to
give up, or least expect it, it happens, at least that's what happens to
me. Be creative where you search, and of course, patience is a must. I also
have a Whites PI(Salt Beach/Surf), a TESORO STINGRAY 2,(Fresh Water
beach/surf) a Whites Eagle Spectrum (with "signature" identification). I
have them because I like switching things up. They have ALL paid for
themselves. They all work at finding valuables. I can't say how each reacts
to how a particular object is sitting in the ground, but I have the others
to double check an area (When I think a detector is not working because it
isn't finding anything, I use another detector and most of the time it
confirms there's nothing there and the detector is fine. Unless of course I
put on the 12.5 coil, I won't get down over 8-10 inches. I use the other
machines to clean up, the go in with the deep seeker.

Good unit,
have no fear buying for first time users, or someone who doesn't want to
spend the bank. Great easy to carry compact size, easy storage/breakdown,
better than most detectors. Some say they are heavy but I don't notice
weight, I just think of what I'm about to find. Pennies are good!
Especially the indian heads, they are actually bronze so hold up better
than pennies. If you ignore a zinc penny, it could be an indian head!
In one day I found a 5 indian head pennies that brought me $300 on
ebay. They had nice green luster, very sharp coins. Walking down a path
near a bridge I found a gold ring that brought me $250. At the local park 2
gold chains worth about $800. Yeah, and so much more. I dug a ton of
pennies and pull tabs and foil, bullet casings. After a while you figure
out the cans and bottle caps and bullets. If you want to go very simple,
just the "MASTER HUNTER", (it's in the CX family but it doesn't have CX on
the side of the machine). The VU meter, though seems like dark ages, is
actually neat to use. When the needle stays on the same spot, it's on the
money. Pinpointing is good. Practice in the woods because you don't want to
put 1000 holes in the local park. If you do at least do it discreetly and
try not to tear the place up. Go back after a rain and "touch up" your
holes. Sorry to ramble.

Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter

Overall RatingDurabilityEase of UseWould you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!Steve from
Boston

133

Cx lll slow brains! expensive mistake

January 21, 2015

I bought everything available in 95' that went with this detector including
the two box depth multiplier. I tried and tried to use this machine to be
effective as I was led to believe it would be. I never have found so many
modern pennies and so much junk in my life! It's target recovery time was
so poor it couldn't find anything worth digging EVER unless it was
completely isolated from bad targets!

It was after this I decided
to throw in the towel and give up on the hobby for years!!! The exact
opposite of this techno blunder is what I am buying to get back into it
with and so far it seems that would be a XP Deus.

Max Depth: 6 inches on US quarter

Overall RatingDurabilityEase of UseWould you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.Roger Ruliffson from
Fargo

74

Garrett cx3 review.

September 01, 2014

I have owned 2 garrett CX 3 models since they were introduced to the UK
market some time in the early 90's. I think for style the CX3 looks very
nice and sleek probably one of the best looking detectors I have seen for
pure style. The talking feature I found to be really not much more than a
gimmick and I often wondered what the heck am I doing listening to this
voice telling me information I can already see on the display. The novelty
factor of the talking is just great but it's something very annoying at
times.

The detector is heavy but pretty well balanced and by
design you really can't sweep too fast with this machine or you may damage
your wrist, it's a slow machine with regard to sweep speed and target
recovery speed, you absolutely need to avoid the motion discrimination mode
and go into all metal mode to stand any chance of getting small hammered
coins. The motion mode just does not seem that sensitive to small coins but
for medium or large coins it will find to around 8 inches approx.

I found on trashy sites it found every bit of can slaw and pull
tab there was buried, it seemed to love junk, basically it was no good for
trashy sites, I never liked it under those conditions. The notch
discrimination feature worked pretty good on sites that were loaded with
pre - decimal coins as you could select which coins you wanted to find, I
once set it to detect brass 3 penny pieces only and I found plenty of these
and dug no hardly junk at all. Same for £1 coins cherry pick the coins on
some sites. OK so finishing the review I will say in all honesty that the
CX 3 is a marvel of electronic engineering - a pure work of art, in the
field though it's basically just an average performer and nothing special.
Yes you can find things with it but expect to dig tons of junk!

Max Depth: 6 inches on US quarter

Overall RatingDurabilityEase of UseWould you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.Kingspin from
UK

74

Nice detector

May 01, 2012

I bought one of these as my first detector. I was probably over my head
with its complexity, but I learned a lot.
Garretts are bright green, and this one had a space age look, and it
talked! I was always surrounded by kids. It taught me to use headphones.
I went whole hog and bought several coils, and the first time out with the
biggest coil was overwhelming. It picked up everything and it was
impossible to separate.
I think it was this detector that started the rumors that Garretts were
toys, because of its bright green, toylike color, and its talking mode.
But, it was and still is a first rate detector with a lot of useful
features.
Two things I have noticed with Garretts detectors. They are easy to use,
and have excellent discrimination with coins. If it says dime, its a dime,
and so on.
The Grand Master Hunter CXIII was ahead of its time by a large margin, and
other manufacturers could not compete, so they mocked it.